The Draw Play

BEAR DOWN

Let’s talk Bears. Maybe the biggest surprise of the season to this point. Chaos kings. They currently sit at 9-4 as the #1 seed in the NFC (purely through tenuous tiebreakers as the Rams, 49ers, and Seahawks also have 9 wins, but still). After losing their first 2 games, they’ve won 9 of their last 10. Most of these wins have been scrappy, difficult affairs featuring numerous lead changes and gutsy comebacks. Ben Johnson went viral after beating the Champions in Philly on Black Friday after he tore off his shirt and yelled a lot. It was not the first time he has been caught yelling like a psycho in the locker room. The vibes are immaculate. Even if the Bears stumble down the stretch, this season has been a roaring success.

As I said in the Chaos Report, I was skeptical of BJ. Many were. He seemed to be a delightfully creative offensive mind, but the league is littered with quality coordinator minds that cannot handle the actual head coaching position. Ben Johnson seemed like a football nerd in the vein of a Shanahan or McDaniel, a guy with impeccable creativity and understanding of the X’s and O’s but not necessarily the “leader of men” mindset that coaches need. McDaniel is a super football nerd, but would you go to war for that little dweeb? I’m not running into battle for a guy who looks like he’d quote Gandalf in his halftime speech. (This is not LoTR slander, this is dork slander)

Brandon Staley was a creative football dork and he sucked. Matt Patricia was supposedly one of the “smartest men in football” but he was actually a big fat asshole who wore a pencil in his ear. Johnson could end up like either of them, or he could be Shanahan, a good football dork. Turns out I was not familiar with Ben Johnson’s game. Dan Campbell loved this man for a reason. Ben Johnson is a football sicko. He’s right off the Campbell block. Ben Johnson has the juice and he’s pouring it on the league.

The funny part is that everyone was hoping he’d fix Caleb and whatnot but he’s done it via the running game. Caleb is playing better football than last year for sure but he hasn’t taken the leap forward that you’d hope. He’s still got accuracy problems, especially when improvising. He’s not on pace to get the elusive 4,000 yards (but he has a chance). But the Bears are running over people so he doesn’t need to be a hero. In Philadelphia, on a short week, against the championship defence that sent the Chiefs into hell, the Bears absolutely steamrolled through with a ground game that makes everyone envious. 28 first downs, 17 of them rushing. 281 yards rushing. Both Swift and Monangai had over 100 yards each. They just kept bullying the Eagles.

I don’t think the Bears are likely to keep their current perch as the #1 seed. The Packers, who they haven’t faced yet, are 1 game behind them. The Lions, who they lost to once and play in week 18, are 2 games behind them. 3 teams in the NFCW are tied with them for wins, and they are playing SF later this year. The Browns (who have a stifling defense) are the easiest team remaining on the schedule. Their schedule up to this point hasn’t been murderers’ row and compared to every other good team they have a very low positive point differential. But the vibes are good, and sometimes the vibes are the key to victory. Ben has these guys believing in themselves. He has changed the culture. He’s been the kind of hire you want out of a new coach. It frightens me to think how good this team could be next year after the leap they’ve made.

So good for Da Bears. I hope they stay where they are at the top. I love watching this team.